The present invention relates to components of a system for remotely controlling a locomotive. More particularly, the system is characterized by the ability to accept voice commands from a human operator.
Systems for remotely controlling a locomotive are known in the art. For a reference, the reader is directed to the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,511,749 and 5,685,507 that have been granted to Canac International Inc. on Apr. 30, 1996 and Nov. 11, 1997 respectively. The contents of the above documents are hereby incorporated by reference. Broadly stated, a remote control system for a locomotive has two main components, namely a lead controller and a follower controller. The follower controller is placed in the locomotive and it receives commands sent by the lead controller over a wireless communication link. The lead controller is in the form of a module that can be carried by a human operator located at a certain distance from the locomotive or the train pulled or pushed by the locomotive. When the operator wishes to move the locomotive in a certain direction, he or she manipulates controls on the lead controller to establish desired parameters such as direction of movement, speed, etc. The command is encoded and sent by the lead controller over the wireless communication link to the follower controller. The follower controller processes the command and generates local control signals that are applied to the locomotive to implement the command.
The human operator that controls the locomotive remotely should at all times follow visually the movement of the locomotive such as to stop the locomotive if a hazardous condition suddenly develops.
Currently existing remote control systems for a locomotive use lead controllers that have manually operated controls. Stated otherwise, the operator must press switches, buttons or turn dials in order to enter the desired command. During the time necessary to operate the controls on the lead controller, the operator cannot visually maintain contact with the moving locomotive. For the reasons mentioned earlier, this constitutes a disadvantage. In addition, the hands of the operator are kept busy which prevents him from performing other useful tasks.
Against this background, it appears that there exists a need in the industry to develop a remote control system for a locomotive that limits or reduces the amount of time during which an operator must break visual contact with the moving locomotive in order to enter a command on the lead controller as well as allow greater flexibility in manual operations.
In accordance with a first broad aspect, the invention provides a follower controller module adapted for mounting on board a locomotive. The follower controller module includes a processing module for receiving a signal indicative of a spoken utterance and generating data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive in response to this signal. The follower controller module is responsive to the data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive for generating local control signals for transmission to the locomotive such as to cause the locomotive to execute the command.
In accordance with a second broad aspect, the invention provides a remote control system for a locomotive. The remote control system comprises a portable lead controller module, a follower controller module mounted onboard a locomotive and a processing module. The lead controller module and the processing module are operative to establish a wireless communication link therebetween for exchanging data. The lead controller module receives a signal derived from a spoken utterance and transmits the signal over the wireless communication link to the processing module. The processing module receives from the lead controller the signal derived from a spoken utterance and, in response to the signal, generates data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive. The processing module transmits the data to the follower controller module. The follower controller module is responsive to the data for generating local control signals for application to the locomotive in order to cause the locomotive to execute the command.
In accordance with yet another broad as aspect, the invention provides a processing module adapted to process voice signals suitable for use in a locomotive remote control system. The processing module includes a first port, a processing unit and a second port. The first port is adapted for receiving over a wireless communication link a signal derived from a spoken utterance. The processing unit processes the signal derived from a spoken utterance received at the first port to generate data indicative of a command to be executed by a locomotive. The second port is adapted for releasing the data indicative of a command to be executed by the locomotive to a follower controller module mounted on board the locomotive.
In a specific implementation, the signal derived from the spoken utterance received at the first port is issued by a lead controller module. In a non-limiting implementation, the first port is adapted to receive a plurality of signals issued by a plurality of distinct lead controller modules, wherein each of the plurality of signals is derived from a respective spoken utterance. Each lead controller module in the plurality of distinct lead controller modules is associated to a corresponding follower controller module selected from a plurality of follower controller modules. In response to each of the plurality of signals, the processing module is operative for generating data indicative of a command to be executed by a locomotive and transmitting the data generated to a follower controller module selected from a plurality of follower controller modules. The selected follower controller module corresponds to the lead controller module which transmitted the signal from which the data indicative of a command was generated.